Music commentary #11

  First album, maybe first two or three-that is the topic here. It is amazing how many people fall in love with a musical recording act upon the first album, then, cannot accept anything the act does after those first few years of recording. In some cases, it is the debut album that is great, but, all else has to pale in comparison. In other cases, the fan is onboard for a few albums before tuning out everything that comes later. In the event an artist/band continues to create and generate music work for decades, you can count on a significant part of their fan base to be lukewarm about all the later releases. I have seen countless folks be unaware the later records were even made! How many Peter Frampton “fans” have his records after the ‘70s? How many Don McLean “fans” love his songs that are not titled “Vincent” or “American Pie”? Willie Nelson keeps touring and recording, yet, how many of his music loving fans buy the albums that were not made in the ‘70s and ‘80s? Did Skynyrd make albums after they reunited in the late ‘80s? Uh, yeah. How many Lynyrd Skynyrd fans bought them? How many know the words to THOSE songs as well as they know “Mr. Saturday Night Special” or “That Smell”? How many are aware that 1987 through this minute is 35 years? How much music got made by the band’s personnel in that 35 years? In some cases, artists/bands get signed to a label and record the debut album while being at a certain place, creatively speaking. As the act grows the music takes on new shapes, new sounds, new approaches. Thus, albums that come later catch them at THAT particular place. The problem comes when the fan, or significant fan base number, rejects anything that is not a rehashing of the initial release(s). There is backlash toward the undesired “growth” made by the musicians. See, the audience, the “fans”, did NOT grow. So, they are not understanding of the changes. There are other situations where an act responds to a certain musical climate at the time, producing music to suit the atmosphere of the business. It is not really where the act’s strength is, or, where the passion is. But, the adjustments allowed for a success. Then, when the sophomore album (or third) gets made it is more in step with WHO THE ACT REALLY IS. However, the fan base loved them for what THEY knew them to be, and expect more music like that. After no real “return” to the debut album “formula “ the fans depart. 6-8 albums later that same fan base is completely unaware the act makes records. And, is unaware the act ever performs! Yes, I am talking about the 18 year old guy with his girlfriend on his shoulders, 10 feet from the stage because they got there hours early to fight it out for stage closeness. They bought T-shirts, listened to nothing but that act for weeks before and after the concert came to town, and would forever recall the magic in the music of that artist (or band). By age 32 or 35 those “fans” are so out of touch with any music released by the act that they cannot name a single song from the recent decade. They do not know of an album or albums being released. But, WAIT! The act comes to town for a show and the couple dumps the kids at mom’s house. Off to see the “magic” music act they go. Then, during the concert the couple are giving one another strange looks. What are these songs? Do you know this material? That has happened because the fans abandoned the musical act and did not stay in touch. AND, the expectation is that those really early songs are what should be played over and over, night after night, for decades. The act should stay stuck in time, in a musical place, for life. Growth? Development? Expanding the musical landscape? No, those things are not to happen. I seem to recall Mark Knopler recording an album of duets with Emmylou Harris. He used some Nashville players, and had Emmylou do the subsequent tour with him. Unfortunately, the venues were filled with lots of Dire Straits fans, expecting Knopfler to only do Dire Straits material of old. The “rock” audience were not real tolerant of the country stuff from the new album. AND, many of them DID NOT KNOW WHO Emmylou Harris WAS, despite her being an iconic music artist. Another recollection of mine is mentioning from my stage that I had been on a tour with Folk icon Joan Baez, and a person shouted out “you are too young to have toured with Joan Baez!”, questioning my authenticity. I told the person I had been 35 years old on that tour, and was plenty old enough to have pulled off the job description. The problem was that the lady in the audience thought of Joan as a 1960s act, and knew I would not have performed with her as a little lad. She could not believe that Joan was touring in the year 2000. If one knows about the discography of one Joan Baez, then, would know how many of her albums had been ignored by this audience person. I toured as guitarist for Folk-Rocker Steve Forbert off and on over the years. It was startling how often his fans brought vinyl albums for his signature, albums from late ‘70s/early ‘80s, but refused to walk over to the merchandise table and pick up his “newer” CDs from mid ‘80s through deep 2000s. I would engage in small talk with them at the intimate, acoustic-based performance settings. The recurring comments I heard were “I used to go hear him back in college. I didn’t know he still was touring.” Yeah? He has been touring AND making records. They are great, his songwriting is great. You missed a lot of music made by an artist you admired way back when. Some of those CDs had ME playing on them. That is what really hurt, come to think if it. They were unaware of MY appearances on his CDs.

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